Okio B Designs: Paris

I used to love playing with paper dolls when I was little. I used to make my own by cutting the models out of my Mom's Spiegel catalog (remember Spiegel?????). This one I found on Pinterest and couldn't resist!

I printed the template out onto cardstock and cut each part out. Then I used some brads so her arms and legs would be moveable. I hand-stamped the Paris on, and added a little bling.

She's really sweet and I would have loved to play with her when I was little. For now, she's just kind of hanging out.

Jeanine

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I really do love embellishing bottles. These are some I had used for other projects but kind of fell out of love with. So I peel off the old labels and embellishments, and start over from scratch.

The tall bottle originally had a Halloween touch. Now it's a shabby button holder. I used some leftover red ticking that I bought from Somerset a couple of years ago. I hand-stamped PARIS on a random piece of white fabric and adhered it to the ticking using fabric glue. Not sure if you can tell, but at the top of the tall bottle is a French address label from the Graphics Fairy.

The little salt (or pepper!) shaker is a Goodwill find. They only had one the one at the time and I loved the shape, so I snatched it up. I hot glued the photo holder to the back of it and then added some burlap, and another piece of random fabric which I hand-stamped SPRING onto. It's holding a miniature Tarot card from a deck I've had since my 20s.

I love the shape of the one with the lace. For that one, I used a pretty Paris image that I printed onto label paper. I distressed the edges a bit and stuck it on. Then I hot glued the lace on top and added a faux dried flower.

The best part is that I used remnants and random pieces from my stash so it cost me $0 to make these!

Jeanine

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I wanted to dress up these burlap pouches that I've had forever. I knew I wanted to add some fabric to the front but I just didn't want to got through the hassle of sewing it on. I just don't know how to maneuver through the pouch without getting frustrated. Plan B: fabric glue!

I hand-stamped my bird images onto each piece of fabric first. One has Paris at the bottom and the other je t'aime. I used a cherry pink ink for both which I think matches quite nicely with the pinks in the fabric.

Then I lined up each fabric piece onto the burlap front (I put a card in between so the burlap wouldn't glue together, thus, rendering the pouch useless) and simply glued it on. Yeah, I'm easy like that.

Once that was dry, I glued on the vintage lace to the bottoms. I added a grungy red safety pin to one - just because. I tucked in some vintage French poetry paper in both.

I have one displayed in a basket I picked up last weekend at my sister's favorite Long Island store: Lavender Fields (hey, Kath, they are moving!). I put the other one on a bookshelf.

Not having to go through the hassle of sewing: priceless!

Jeanine

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Here is the first of the weekend projects that I was able to accomplish. I bought this little wood shadowbox from the Unique Thrift Stores last week. It was just a plain pine box. I decided to give it a French-y makeover:

I gave it a couple of coats of white paint. While that was drying, I used some French script scrapbook paper for my background. Then I popped over to The Graphics Fairy and printed out some random French images. The Eiffel Tower is actually from a necklace I got at Forever 21 a couple of years ago. My boys love that I used Scrabble pieces to spell out Paris.

There is another small charm on the lower right corner - not sure if you can see it. It has a cameo look to it. The finishing touches were Marie Antoinette and the hand-stamped little French crown at the top.

I love the touch of French whimsy it adds to my livingroom!

Linking to Faded Charm: White Wednesday.

Jeanine

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Paging the lost and found! While we were packing away our Christmas lights yesterday, I found this little tool caddy that I bought a while ago and totally forgot about. It was in pretty bad shape and needed a white spray paint makeover stat. Thanks to yesterday's warm weather, I was able to give it a few coats of paint in just a few hours.

Once it was dry, I broke out this graphite transfer paper that I bought last year. It sat and sat on one of our craft shelves so I was happy to actually use it. Basically you lay a sheet of it on your project and then add the image you want to transfer ontop. I used this great image from The Graphics Fairy. Tape both to your project. You can use either a pencil or pen to transfer. At first I used pencil but it came out very lightly. So I switched to a pen which gave me this:

I made a couple of oopsies - particularly on the 'S' in Paris but overall I found the paper easy to use. I was afraid it might smudge so I gave it a couple of coats of poly to seal it in once I was done stenciling it on. Once that was dry, I painted the wood fleur de lis and glued that to the front of the handle.

Here's a close up.

Once everything was dry and ready to roll, I added some faux Dollar Store moss to both bottoms. I was in a pink mood so I added some vintage pink thread, a bottle of pastel buttons and the cute butterfly (from Michael's). Adding to the French theme is the French book paper page tucked in the corner.

I would definitely use the graphite paper again as I have a few sheets left. Maybe next time I'll try a more intricate image/design.

Linking to The Graphics Fairy: Brag Monday.

Jeanine

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